If you’re after every last detail and intricacy of the BMC Mini, then this anniversary booklet will be right up your street – not because it’s comprehensive, but it adds colour to a story already told many time. It’s called Magical Mini Memories, and it’s on sale now for the modest price of £4.00 plus P&P.
For the 86th Reunion of the Austin Ex-Apprentices Association at Chateau Impney (now sadly closed, possibly permanently) in November 2019, a 36-page colour booklet to commemorate 60 years of the classic BMC-era Mini was put together by Ian Elliott.
It was a collection of ‘insider’ ex-apprentice memories of Minis and Mokes over those years, covering launch, development, competition, home and export sales etc. Thus it’s titled ‘Magical Mini Memories’ (MMM).
In order to fund the print, the Association decided to have a fairly big run-on for sale to the ex-apprentices who weren’t at the reunion, and thereafter to Mini enthusiasts and the public. Since they aren’t geared up for mass mailings, it was decided put the sales through the British Motor museum shop at Gaydon, for sale direct to visitors and via their online shop.
This got off to a great start, but then they had to close for lockdown. The museum started limited opening from 4 July, and recently confirmed that the museum is now opening every day – and as a consequences, sales of MMM are picking up. But we need to push things along a bit now, as there is a pallet load of boxes and the Gaydon shop has very little storage space, so they have to feed them in gradually!
Because the association doesn’t have a promotion budget to speak of (their objective is basically to break even) – with most of the profit going to the British Motor Museum.
Keith Adams, editor and creator of AROnline said: ‘what Ian Elliott doesn’t know about the firm and its products isn’t worth knowing, so you can be sure that you’re going to be informed as well as entertained by this pamphlet. As well as being packed with memories for people who were actually there, you can also take away plenty of delicious factoids about Britain’s best-loved small car. Enjoy!’
https://www.aronline...-mini-memories/
"Celebrating 60 years of the Classic Mini, this limited edition 36-page colour booklet is packed full of 'insider' stories from past Austin Apprentices about Minis and Mini Mokes. Readers can expect tales of testing and development, Press launches, Minis in competition and even engineering changes spanning 41 years of production. Read how ex-apprentices fought hard to extend the production life of the Mini and how production of this iconic car's body shells still continues today."
Gaydon website shop – £4 plus Post and Packing:-
https://shop.british...mini-collection
Learn more about the Austin Ex-Apprentices Association at its recently-launched website – it’s still under construction, so do keep checking in:-
https://austinexappr....wordpress.com/
Edited by mab01uk, 17 August 2020 - 09:04 AM.
